The field of the present disclosure relates generally to automated defense systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for protecting aircraft and other objects from laser beams and generalized electromagnetic radiation emitted by directed-energy weapons and tracking systems.
At least some known directed energy sources, such as high-energy laser weapons and high-power microwave weapons, are becoming an increasingly prominent threat to aircraft and other targets. More specifically, directed energy weapons are capable of channeling a large amount of stored energy towards a target at the speed of light. As such, avoidance techniques for directed energy weapons are typically different from avoidance techniques implemented for traditional projectile-type weapons. For example, the aircraft may be externally covered by paints or coatings, or may be manufactured from heavy and robust materials such that the aircraft is capable of withstanding a directed energy attack for an increased amount of time. However, modifying the construction of the aircraft may increase its overall weight, thereby reducing the fuel efficiency and performance of the aircraft.
The pilot (or, in the case of unmanned drones, the remote controller or piloting software) of an aircraft under directed energy attack can sometimes maneuver the aircraft to reduce the intensity of the directed energy received at the aircraft. However, in such a scenario, an amount of damage to the aircraft is directly dependent on the reaction time of and types of maneuvers selected by the pilot, controller, or software of the aircraft.
As used herein, “electromagnetic radiation” shall mean any subset of the full spectrum of electromagnetic waves transmissible through vacuum. Despite any narrower uses of the term in any specialized industry, this encompasses radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, gamma rays, and any other self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. The waves may be pulsed or continuous, polarized or unpolarized, incoherent or coherent. Laser and maser emissions, being types of light and microwave radiation respectively, shall be included in the umbrella term “electromagnetic radiation” herein unless otherwise explicitly stated.